Children under 12 are ‘sexting’ – we must confront this reality in order to protect them

Despite the many benefits that advances in digital communication such as smartphones have brought, there have also been some dangerous outcomes. “Sexting” is one of them.

The sending of self-made sexual images via mobile phones is so widespread among young people that global estimates suggest that 14.8 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds have sent a sext and a staggering 27.4 per cent have received one.

Worrying as this is, newly published research investigating sexting among even an even younger age group, those aged 12 and under, found that 2.1 per cent admitted to sending a sext and 13.7 per cent reported receiving an unwanted sexual image.

Receiving and sending sexts at an early age is associated with a range of other harms and problems. This type of exposure leads to a disproportionate number of children having sexual intercourse before the age of 13, as well as experiencing higher rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, compared to those who are not exposed to or sending sexts.

Early experiences of sexting were also found to increase the risk of using alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs such as cannabis and cocaine, again compared to peers who had not engaged in sexting.

This demonstrates a wider impact beyond the already worrying effects of sexual content on young children. This clustering of behaviour is explained in part by prior emotional and psychological problems among these children, as well as poor parental monitoring of children’s use of mobile phones. It is, however, worth mentioning that many parents will be unaware of what their children use their mobiles for and many children are adept at disguising any activity they want to keep private.

Sexting is not just an activity between peers. As recent prosecutions indicate, it is something that predatory adult paedophiles employ too. As this new research suggests, many children feel pressured into sexting, but when it’s an adult rather than a peer initiating it, the adult has an advantage and will likely be skilled in grooming young children to achieve their goal.

Although the harm caused by sexting at any age is clear, it is really troubling to find that such young children are involved and learn of the lasting impact that this has on their lives. This points to the need for intervention at an earlier age.

At the moment, any educational intervention around sex and staying safe online is only available to secondary school-aged adolescents, if it happens at all. What we need to confront, uncomfortable as it may be, is that the issue must be addressed at a much earlier age, if we are to stand any chance of protecting young children from this type of activity.

Unfortunately, I’m not very optimistic this will happen, particularly given the current political and economic environment. The National Youth Agency has recently warned about the impact that funding cuts are having on their ability to protect young children from a range of risks, including county lines drug dealing. Vulnerable young people are more likely to engage with youth workers than teachers, as these workers are able to meet them out of core hours and at weekends. Youth workers are also more tuned into and skilled in dealing with the potential risks that children face.

But like libraries and other “soft” services, youth support teams are an easy target for budget cuts. Despite the fantastic preventative interventions they are able to offer, stopping further problems from developing and saving taxpayers money in the long run, they are not deemed to be “essential’’.

We need to accept that sexting is happening to ever younger children. We can’t just sub-contract responsibility to the government or youth workers. It’s a difficult and uncomfortable fact to absorb, but unless we do, we are abandoning children at the point when they need us most.

Ian Hamilton is a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York